[opendtv] News: Giving HDTV the Rock Star Treatment

This time hopefully without the line break characters:20

Giving HDTV the Rock Star Treatment - 'Only Cable=20
Can' Effort Touts High-Def With Year-Long Series=20
of Concerts

October 28, 2004 12:00am
Source: Reed Business Information. All Rights Reserved.

Multichannel News via NewsEdge Corporation : New=20
York -- After focusing much of their efforts this=20
year on using sporting events to market HDTV,=20
major cable operators are turning to rock stars=20
to drive sales of high-definition programming=20
packages and set-tops.

Jon Bon Jovi shared the stage here last week with=20
cable officials and representatives from Samsung=20
Electronics America Inc. to announce the launch=20
of an HDTV concert series that will run=20
exclusively on In Demand Networks' INHD and INHD2=20
services, distributed by Comcast Corp., Cox=20
Communications Inc., Time Warner Cable and=20
Adelphia Communications Corp.

The MSOs, through the industry's "Only Cable Can"=20
initiative, are teaming with Samsung to push the=20
year-long HDTV concert series. Combined, the=20
companies will spend "tens of millions of=20
dollars" on marketing the concerts and cable HDTV=20
programming packages.

SCHEDULES AND INCENTIVES

Media includes national newspapers, national=20
broadcast, cross-channel cable spots customized=20
for each operator and Internet advertising, said=20
Samsung senior vice president of strategic=20
marketing Peter Weedfald.

The concert series kicks off on Nov. 21, with a=20
live Bon Jovi show that will run on INHD2.=20
Samsung agreed to market the concerts through the=20
end of 2005.

Samsung and the MSOs are also offering consumers=20
that buy a Samsung HDTV and order a digital-cable=20
package a $200 Visa gift card.

Previous Only Cable Can campaigns organized by=20
the Cable & Telecommunications Association for=20
Marketing included a promotion that operators ran=20
with Samsung that offered cable subscribers=20
coupons that could be used to pay their cable=20
bill if they purchased a high-definition set and=20
programming package.

The $200 gift card will be issued after the=20
consumer buys an HDTV. They won't be able to use=20
the gift card to help pay for the actual sets,=20
Weedfald said, as the company believed allowing=20
consumers to buy anything else they wanted with=20
the gift card was a more effective approach.

"Did you ever have someone buy you a gift, and=20
when you returned it you got a slip that said,=20
'Here's $200 -- buy anything you want in the=20
store.' That feeling -- that emotive capital=20
that's found by, 'Suddenly I have $200 that I can=20
do something with' -- nothing can touch it,"=20
Weedfald said.

Most of the concerts will be taped; Bon Jovi's=20
performance is currently the only scheduled live=20
show. In Demand president Rob Jacobson said=20
performances featuring Mary J. Blige, Elton John=20
and Sting are scheduled for December, while=20
Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago are tentatively=20
set for January.

Jacobson said INHD hopes to run 15 different=20
concerts over the next year, and that the company=20
is currently in talks with performers that would=20
appeal to younger viewers, in addition to their=20
parents. He said the marketing push would provide=20
a nice boost for INHD and INHD2.

"It's going to create a lot of additional=20
awareness for INHD, no question about it. And=20
it's going to let cable customers know that they=20
have a place to go to get really great,=20
high-quality pictures and sound that they can't=20
get anywhere else," Jacobson said.

Through Only Cable Can, major MSOs have focused=20
primarily this year on using sports to market=20
HDTV. In March, Only Cable Can ran a promotion=20
with Samsung, offering subscribers who bought a=20
Samsung HDTV and digital-cable package $100 in=20
coupons that could be used to pay their cable=20
bills. The industry ran a similar promotion with=20
Panasonic over the summer, touting cable as the=20
best way to watch NBC's coverage of the Summer=20
Olympics from Athens, Greece.

Sources said CTAM and its cable partners are=20
working on a similar consumer promotion with Sony=20
that will tout the medium as the best way to=20
watch football games in high-definition.

Samsung has also worked with cable rival DirecTV=20
Inc. this fall on a $15 million ad campaign that=20
pitches the DBS provider's exclusive "NFL Sunday=20
Ticket" out-of-market game package and the=20
electronics firm's HDTVs.

"In a world order where there are multiple=20
partners, I would expect that the cable industry,=20
[through] Only Cable Can, should be working with=20
many different companies, just like we work with=20
many different providers," Weedfald said.

'CUMULATIVE EFFECT'

CTAM and operators that have participated in the=20
previous Only Cable Can consumer promotions=20
haven't quantified how many new subscribers the=20
campaigns generated, but some MSO executives said=20
they have been effective.

"I think there's a cumulative effect to all of=20
this stuff, and the more often that we're out=20
there the more impact I believe they'll have,"=20
said Time Warner Cable senior vice president of=20
marketing Brian Kelly. "When we get behind things=20
like this we usually see a nice little spike=20
associated with the number of HDTV set-tops that=20
we have going into the home."

Cox senior vice president of marketing Joe Rooney=20
said it's not easy to track the number of leads=20
that have been generated by the Only Cable Can=20
promotions.

"We're pretty nascent at this cooperative=20
marketing, and we've got some back-office work to=20
do to maximize the broadband infrastructure in=20
ways to be able to measure the activity a little=20
better," Rooney added.

'Pizza Man' HD Spot Delivers - Cox Communications Inc.

Steve Donohue

Cox Communications Inc.'s latest HDTV commercial=20
touts the real-life picture the new technology=20
offers by showing a pizza deliveryman scared out=20
of his wits when a man holding a gun bellows a=20
warning. It turns out that the gunman is an actor=20
in a TV movie, not a real customer.

=46rame description: (1) Pizza delivery man enters=20
house; (2) Movie character shouts, "Freeze=20
dirtbag!"; (3) Cable subscriber/pizza customer=20
explains, "Dude, it's a movie." (4) Spot=20
concludes with Cox's slogan, "So real, you forget=20
it's TV."

Ad agency: DP Editorial Inc.

<<Multichannel News -- 10/25/04, p. 28>>

<< Copyright =A92004 Reed Business Information. All Rights Reserved. >>
 
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:

- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at 
FreeLists.org 

- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word 
unsubscribe in the subject line.

Other related posts: